Pebble new products, software and broader plans for 2015

Pebble is one of the successful smartwatch story with more than 1 million devices sold as of Dec 31 2014. Despite fierce smartwatch competition, Pebble still hold a sizable 34% market share, just right behind Samsung (36%) and far ahead of Motorola (16%).

With the launch of Apple watch is coming soon, Pebble is not standing still. The company has plans to release new hardware and software later this year.

Going into 2015 and looking at future products, Migicovsky says the goal is to focus on the software and the overall experience of what a smartwatch is. "We want software that lets you get more done with it becoming complex."

That can be difficult because for some users, the initial response to Pebble and its apps is to want to install as many things as possible. In practice, however, Migicovsky says that too many apps and too many options, overwhelm the user. That's a bad thing because if a user is overwhelmed, they are less likely to stay on the wrist.

Migicovsky says that one of the most important internal metrics Pebble uses is related to its user-retention rate. By that, Pebble means the number of users who buy a watch and are still using it on their wrists weeks or months later.

"We need to know if we can stay on your wrist," Migicovsky says. Ultimately, becoming part of a user's routine and staying on their wrist is what will open up Pebble to its next evolution. "We want to take what people are doing now smartwatches and take it to the extreme."

One area where Pebble is already working on being better is when it comes to helping users reply to notifications. The Pebble beta for Android allows users to reply to text messages or chats with canned responses or with emoji or emoticons.

The most immediate competition Pebble faces right now is from Google's Android Wear platform. The upcoming Apple Watch will be big competition too. Both Google and Apple have more money than Pebble — not to mention more resources to throw at their devices.

Still, part of what makes Pebble unique and different in the smartwatch space is that it is one of the only "mainstream" devices that works with both iOS and Android. Although it's true that Pebble won't ever achieve the sort of tightly-coupled integration that the Apple Watch will have with iOS or the influx of information Google Now offers Android Wear, there is still something to be said for a device agnostic wearable.

But it's not just smartwatches that are competing with Pebble. Increasingly, fitness trackers are starting to eat into the space too. The line between a tracker and a smartwatch was already blurry in 2014. It'll be even blurrier in 2015. To that end, Pebble can do its best to partner with health brands, connected device companies and work on supporting software for companies who sell sensors and smart home products.

For Pebble, 2015 is about doubling down on software, building out its developer community and releasing new products.